


Chains

by ChelleyPam



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: A/B/O, Angst, Gen, No HEA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:28:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28592517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleyPam/pseuds/ChelleyPam
Summary: Just a short, angst one shot.  I see all the dark fics where somehow Rey finally accepts a mate she didn’t want to begin with.  I just wanted to explore one where she doesn’t.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Chains

The phone rang once. Twice. He picked it up on the third. 

“Rey?” His voice still had that same low rumble.

“Did you lose something?”

She heard him sigh. “He’s there?”

“Yeah. Took the bus out.”

“I’ll come and pick him up. It will take me a couple of hours.”

“He’ll be here.”

She hung up the phone and released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. She took another, then one more before going back into the den.

The boy was tall and still growing. All gangly limbs that the rest of him hadn’t caught up to just yet. Some acne, but not a whole lot. Kylo probably kept a close eye on his diet and grooming habits. He always was a control freak.

“Your father will be in later to take you home.”

Dark eyes in a long face looked up at her through a fringe of brown hair. “That’s it? You’re just going to send me back?” There was an angry bite to his words. 

She didn’t blame him.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to tell me why you left!” He came up out of his seat on the couch, hands balled into fists. “I want to know why he let you!”

He was presenting, but he wasn’t fully an alpha yet.

“Sit down and mind your tone.” She didn’t snap at him. She didn’t have the energy for that. Still, he did sit back down and she settled into the wingback chair flanking the coffee table. 

He’d be as tall as his father. Maybe taller.

“Here’s the one piece of truly motherly advice I’m going to give you, Anakin; if your mate doesn’t really want to be there, have the decency and self respect to keep your dick in your pants and walk away.”

He frowned. He hadn’t expected that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I never wanted to be mated to Kylo Ren. I didn’t want anyone. I wanted my life on my own terms. Only the laws don’t allow that for an omega. Once we present, we’re reduced to fucking brood mares and matched with a ‘suitable mate’. Some pencil dicked paper pusher gave me to your father. No one asked me what I wanted or if I wanted to be there. I wasn’t given a choice.”

Anakin frowned harder. “But... it’s to keep you safe.”

“It’s to keep the population healthy. Beta births go bad as often as they don’t, if they carry to term. Female alphas are lucky if they can conceive at all. So we omegas are expected to breed. You present, you’re matched to your mate and you’re expected to do your best to have at least two viable offspring. I got lucky in that the second round was twins. When they turned three your father finally grew a damn conscience and let me go.”

He had been five.

“You... didn’t want us?”

Poor kid. He didn’t deserve any of this.

“No. I didn’t.” He flinched and she felt bad. “Look, it isn’t you, it’s me. Hell, it may be genetic. My own mother abandoned me. I used to tell myself I’d never do the same, but I just couldn’t get past the anger at not being given a choice. No matter how hard I tried to push that behind me...”. She trailed off, unable to put what she was feeling into words.

She could tell he was trying to wrap his mind around it. “But at school they say that omegas have a natural instinct to nurture.”

A snort escaped her. “Yeah, I had those classes, too. Dull pablum that’s at least fifty to sixty years out of date. They like to think the way they do things now is better than when alphas just grabbed a ripe omega and forced her to her knees, but it’s still rape if the woman isn’t willing. The law just makes it legal. You can’t force someone to love. You can’t force a person to forgive.”

“Rape?” She could tell the word was sour on his tongue. “But your heats...”

“Just because a heat reduces a woman to a mindless, mewling mess doesn’t mean she’s happy about it. I still have heats now. They’re managed because my insurance covers top shelf blockers, but they happen. I see to them myself. Got a nice collection of toys for that.” She almost laughed at the face he made. Budding alpha or not, no kid wants to think of their parents as sexual beings.

“Dad allows that?”

“He signs off on it, just like he signs off on me having a job. My insurance and my paycheck covers the expense.”

“But... why?”

Why. That was the question. It had shocked the hell out of her when Kylo had told her he’d let her go. 

“I think... I think he may have finally realized I wasn’t just being contrary. I think he finally believed me when I said I didn’t want to be there. I dunno. Maybe it was because he realized how little interest I had in your kids aside from making sure you were clean and fed. You’re lucky you turned out as well as you did. I sure as hell fell down on the job when it came to the nurturing part. I’m sorry for that. I really am. Hell, you only started talking because he doted on you every second he was home from work while you were awake. You certainly didn’t get enough interaction from me. I was a shit mother. You deserved better.”

“So Dad just... let you leave.”

“He paid for me to go to college. He knew I’d wanted to and that losing that chance because I presented had upset me. I think he may have felt guilty once he realized that I really didn’t want to be with him. I dunno. You’ll have to ask him what he was thinking. I got my degree, then my masters and now I’m at Resistance Aerospace. Pretty sure I only got the interview because your grandmother owns the place, but I’ve more than proven my worth there.”

He was staring down at his hands. The kid looked miserable.

Rey sighed and leaned forward enough she could put a hand on one of his wrists. He looked up at her. He looked like he was holding back tears.

“You didn’t deserve any of this. You and your brothers were brought into this mess because the world is fucked up. I’m sorry that you have to deal with all this shit. I mean that. I wish I could make myself love the three of you, but every time I saw you, all I saw were chains.”

A tear did escape. Just one. Clear and glistening as it rolled down his cheek.

They sat in silence for a bit. Then she got up, fired up her grill and grilled them a pizza. Chicken and spinach with feta. She ate two pieces and he at the other ten. The boy was a bottomless pit. Just like his father.

The sky was turning a pinkish orange when Kylo finally arrived. He pulled Anakin into a hug while berating him for making him worry like that. He’d been beside himself when the school had called to say he hadn’t shown up for classes. He hadn’t even known the boy knew where to find his mother.

Apparently he’d gone through the drawers in Kylo’s home office and found his copy of the paperwork. The waivers for her to hold down a job. His august permission to let her work and earn her own way.

Anakin lumbered out towards the car, not bothering to tell her good-bye. Kylo looked at her, his eyes the same dark brown as his son’s.

“You can come with us. You can come home.”

Rey felt a little pang of sympathy towards the man. She wasn’t completely without empathy. “I am home, Kylo. You should talk with your son. He’s trying to figure all this out.”

His sons. Not hers. No matter how hard she tried, she still only saw chains.


End file.
